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Friday, March 22, 2013

Sepia Saturday: A Family That Tours Battlefields Together ...

Sepia Saturday challenges
bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt shows photographers at
work capturing the beauty of cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. And isn’t that what any visitor to our nation’s
capital would do? But what distinguishes
the professional from most amateurs is the tripod. Apparently a professional photographer was
working on the day my great-uncle Millard Davis and his wife Edith visited the Gettysburg
National Military Park. Note the tripod to the far left of the photo Millard snapped.

Edith Kite Davis at the entrance to Devil's Den
Gettysburg National Military Park
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

However, Millard and Edith took their own pictures with
their own camera, most likely without benefit of a tripod.

One of their stops along the Gettysburg Battlefield tour that
day was Devil’s Den, an important site for artillery and infantry snipers during
the battle that became the turning point in the War Between the States.

Edith Davis at Devil's Den
overlooking Plum Rum

The outcropping of boulders formed a high ridge
giving the soldiers a strategic vantage point overlooking Plum Run valley between Little Round Top and Big Round Top. It was at Devil’s Den that the South claimed
one of its few successes at Gettysburg.

Millard Davis at Devil's Den
Some of the boulders
stood 20 feet high

Touring battlefields has been a long-standing tradition
in my family. Readers of Sepia Saturday
might recall that just recently I wrote about my great-aunt Velma Davis
Woodring (Millard’s sister) and her friend Olive Williams.

Their trip to Mercersburg was not their only trip
together. Two months earlier in June
1928, Woody and Velma, along with her sister Violetta, accompanied the Williams
family on a trip to tour the Antietam battlefield in Maryland. Antietam’s two claims to fame are that it was
the scene of the first major Civil War battle on Union soil AND it was the deadliest
single-day battle in American history.

In that post I included a letter that Olive wrote in 1925
asking Velma’s mother to allow Velma to make a trip to Gettysburg with the
Williams family and their mutual friend Virginia Cole.

While transcribing that letter, I experienced what can only be described as "a light bulb
moment": the moment when clues in a letter shed light on an old photo that my family had laughed about unapologetically because we figured we weren't disrespecting the memory of a family member. After all, we didn't know the women in it. To us the photo was simply funny

Left: Virginia Cole
Right: Olive Williams
Gettysburg August 1925

because the mood of those two unidentified women standing beside a cannon in a battlefield resembled the mood in this picture at another battlefield:

Me, Momma and Stonewall Jackson
Manassas, Virginia 1967

The light bulb moment was realizing those
then-unidentified women were none other than Virginia Cole and Olive
Williams. The August 1925 date scrawled
in the upper right corner (cropped out of the posted picture) offers strong
evidence that this was the big trip to Gettysburg that Mr. Williams had planned
for the girls.

We all agreed that those two women (now identified as
Virginia and Olive) seem as bored as I had been that summer when my family
visited yet ANOTHER Civil War battlefield, that time in Manassas,
Virginia.

Momma and me at the Union monument
Manassas, Virginia 1967

Could anyone be more pouty, more disagreeable, more "fun" to be around?

(Come on, Daddy – how much
longer??)

And what is that in my lap? Why, my camera case, of course. I certainly didn’t want to miss out on recording
all those memories of us crisscrossing battlefields dotted with cannon, statues
of war heroes, and monuments honoring dead patriots.

What a fun post! It's amazing how so many cool photos came about without benefit of a tripod! Thank-goodness. What an exciting vacation that must have been, during what looks like beautiful weather, in which I can barely remember what that is lately! Yikes! I like that camera case, it's so large, it must have held film and the works. I remember my parents had something like that!

Absolutely and even our cell phones and everything to iPod or whatever must be compact! I've carried my own camera case of today around before, and I think people have looked at me like, where is she from! But I can stick everything in there, no need for a purse!

You may have looked bored, but I bet you were moved Wendy. Reading your post made me go and dig out my own papers from our visit to those battlefields several years ago. I kept all the postcards, including that one of Jackson's memorial. I remember being incrediby moved by displays and informations from the guides. A few years later we watched Ken Burns' remarkable documentary series using only still photographs and letters and the spone words of those who had lived through it. Thank you for the reminder and I really enjoyed your post.

You're too kind if you think that 16-yr old girl was one bit impressed. But you'll be glad to know she grew into a fine woman who appreciates a good battlefield and accompanying museum. Those Ken Burns programs are always a pleasure to watch.

We went on a Civil War Battlefield journey about 20 years ago - I was bored stiff! But now I'd love to have that experience, especially since I've learned that a 2nd great grandfather was killed at Fredericksburg.

My daughter went to Mary Washington in F'burg. One weekend while she was still in class, my husband and I did a walking tour. One of the most interesting stories was that people would sit on their front porch and watch the battles. A really early version of reality tv!

Ha. Your post really made me laugh. Those "bored" photos are priceless. I can remember family vacations where I felt just the same. But to see the two different generations with the same reactions was just too funny. And then the happy pool shot that you ended with was the icing on the cake.Nancy

I suppose the key to getting something out of battlefield visits is a knowledge of the background history, and having a personal family connection helps too. Your early photos remind me of some in my grandparents' album which show them on a cycling pilgrimage in 1921 to my grandmother's brother's grave on the Western Front. I visited the cemetery in 2007, and it was very special feeling finding the exct spots where my grandfather's photos were taken. Just a pity I don't have a photo of him wielding the camera, but that would have been hard to achieve since he took the photos.

The US has such great topographic names. Your experience was so funny, we've all had childhood moments like that, feet hot from trailing around. It is now our job to inflict that on others:-) However they look much more interesting than our civil war battlefields which are usually just that - fields.

Very funny, Wendy. But let's be truthful, battlefield tours will always be a guy thing. I think it is having a camera that makes us go places and do things we would not otherwise do. Look there's a big rock,let's take a picture of you hanging off the edge! Wow, that's a big statue of a horse, let's have you stand in front for scale. Before the camera, we would just buy a postcard.

There seems to have been a revival in visiting battlefields on this side of the ocean - visiting the battlefields of World War 1 seems to be an important part of the school curriculum these days. Great photographs.

Yeah, your "excitement" was palpable... NOT!!! Glad you had that eureka moment, connecting the dots between a letter and some enigmatic photograph.Fun post!!! What would you do without all of those family trips!?! :D~ HUGZ

I love the glimpses into the family's travels, such fun! It seems most familys' vacations were very similar. I too was often bored when dragged on sightseeing adventures. Today I would be thrilled to see the Civil War battle sites since I now know that several of my ancestors fought there.

Hi there! I came across your blog while looking for Gettysburg info, especially Devil's Den. Love the photos! I wish I had a ton of photos of every single one of my ancestors (those for whom it was possible, anyway!) It's great to see families getting out and seeing the battlefields. I've visited Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Wilderness, and Chancellorsville so far, and hope to see more someday!

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net